Sir, – I’ve been following the ongoing debate on EBVs and recording with interest. All good stockmen rely on our eye, experience and hard work to try to maintain and improve our flocks. But if recording can provide additional information that my eye may miss, then it would be naive of me to ignore it.

The tup breeders should have nothing to fear from these EBV figures. They cannot replace the sound judgement of an able stockmen, but they can be used alongside the ‘tools of the trade’ to improve both the quality and the quantity of the lambs we produce. 
This should then reduce the time it takes to do a ‘real day’s sheep work’ and improve the profitability at the same time, which will allow the whole industry to benefit; top pedigree breeders and their more commercial customers alike. 
No-one can dispute that there is already real quality stock available at market and that we should all be proud of our industry, but this is due to everyone’s constant work to keep the industry progressive and all of our constantly learning and striving for better. 
After all, what flock cannot be improved? For myself, I will use all tools to my advantage to achieve this.

Malcolm Campbell
Swordale
Evanton